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Londolozi Live

Membership overview

We invite you to sign up for a Londolozi Live account and join our growing digital family united by our respect for nature and love of the wild. Membership is free and grants access to the Londolozi community, numerous innovative services and benefits across our digital ecosystem:

Quick sign in/sign up

Tired of new passwords? Link your social media account of choice for instant, secure access to Londolozi Live.

Who are you?

Tell the community something about yourself and tweak your Londolozi profile. More of a secretive animal? Keep your profile private.

Track your activity

Earn badges for your profile as you interact with Londolozi and the community as you comment, share and explore our online ecosystem. All your activity with Londolozi is now connected.

Increase your ranking

Earn prowess and rank up as you interact with Londolozi Live and earn a spot on the monthly points leaderboard.

Discuss stories

Chat with other Londolozi Live Explorers and with your favourite Contributors from the Londolozi team about their photos and stories from the wild.

Curate your own galleryNEW

Add your favorite photographs from around Londolozi Live to your very own Favorites gallery, using the ♡ button, for others to enjoy.

Purchase full res photosNEW

Buy your favorite photos in full resolution, easily and securely, for download at any time from your Profile Page.

Home of leopards

Tell us which of the Leopards of Londolozi you've encountered during your visit! Their cards will move to your profile page collection.

Rent gear

Need a camera for your stay? Book it online and hassle free. Travel to Londolozi light and easy.

Londolozi Live q

7 Tips for Capturing a Beautiful Landscape Photograph

Some landscapes seem surreal, so beautiful and vast are they. There is a part of me that wants to hold onto that beauty and keep the feeling of that incredible vastness with me forever. There seems to be a yearning for it; for the colours, the shapes, the way the clouds seems to endlessly float across the sky. For the way the wind blows through the trees and moves with effortless grace. That is why I want to capture a beautiful landscape.

It also feels to me that I am the only person in the world who sees this landscape this way and by capturing it I am able to show it to other people and say to them, “Look what I have seen. Look where I have been. Look at what this world has to offer.”

Here at Londolozi we are surrounded by beautiful landscapes, which represent Africa in its most impressive form.

Photographically, it is difficult to capture exactly what the eye sees and so you can land up with a shot which is flat, lacks interest and just does not do the scene any justice. However, by following a few simple guidelines, you can go a long way towards ensuring your landscape photograph is representative of what was actually in front of you.

Here, then, are my 7 top tips for capturing a scene’s natural beauty:

Choose an Interesting Spot

Londolozi has beautiful Koppies, interesting clearings, airy Leadwood forests, busy water crossings and eye-dropping starry night skies. Once you have chosen one of these exquisite spots, walk around and get a sense of the surroundings before setting up your equipment. Find a place to shoot from, be creative and don’t just settle for the first place that you stop at, as this is probably where everyone else would take the shot from.

A misty Autumn morning at Londolozi.

Foreground, Middle Ground and Background

Depth is key to avoid shooting an image which is flat. Establish the foreground, the middle ground and the background. The temptation can be to just look at a scene and not consider whether there are any distracting elements in a scene.

Also, by having a point of interest in the foreground you are giving the viewer a way into the scene, helping create perspective.

Dead trees in the foreground and a koppie in the distance create continuity.

Use a Wide Angle Lens

Using a wide angle lens gives you a much broader field of view, enhancing the feeling of space. They generally also allow you to obtain a greater depth of field.

Choose Your Aperture Wisely

Use a narrow aperture (between f16 and f22 ideally) so that you have greater depth of field; this is to ensure that all areas in your landscape photo are in focus. A greater depth of field will allow you to appreciate all aspects of a scene, rather than limiting you to only one small sharp section of it. Narrowing the aperture will let in far less light, however, which is why the next point is super important…

Dark clouds create a moody feel to this image. A narrow aperture made sure that even the distant clouds were in focus.

Use a Tripod

By having a narrow aperture your exposure time (assuming you are using the same ISO) will necessitate a greatly reduced shutter speed, and so it is important to mount your camera on a sturdy tripod. This will prevent camera shake and blurry images. Shooting handheld is simply not an option if you want to capture a decent landscape shot. Sturdy/heavy tripods work best as light ones can be shaken by even a light wind. Pushing the shutter button can cause a little bit of camera shake, so a good idea is to set the shutter to a 2 second delay, which gives the camera time to stop shaking even slightly before the shutter is released.

Try a Polarising Filter

A polarising filter enriches the colours in your landscape photograph. Using a filter also increases the exposure time however, another reason why it is very important to use a tripod.

Rob Carnkshaw used a polarizing filter to minimize the glare from the water, add more contrast as well as saturate the colors in the image a little bit more. As well as the polarizing filter, he used a 6-Stop Neutral Density Filter which allowed him to have a long exposure time without over-exposing the image. This long exposure gives the moving water a smooth, silky feel. Settings F16, 30s, ISO 50. Photograph by Rob Crankshaw.

Cut Out the Sky

If the sky has a dull colour to it, or adds no value to the shot, cutting it out entirely can make for a more interesting shot.

The shot below of a buffalo herd in the Sand River is a bit of a cheat as it was taken from a helicopter (and handheld) but one can see how a different perspective while still shooting wide can create a very interesting photograph.

Taking these tips, I hope that you can also say to others, “Look where I have been and look what the beauty of Nature has to offer…”.

About the Author

Kylie Jones

Photography Manager

Being someone who loves the bush, people and photography Kylie has found her way to her dream job in the Londolozi Studio. Despite completing her Humanities Degree, she felt unsatisfied and found herself drawn to doing a wildlife photography course. Being both creative ...

Exciting to read Kylie. Sadly when visiting from overseas it is not always possible to bring everything one would need to get all these beautiful photographs. Two lenses, because I believed that I would need a large zoom and a wide option, plus a single body, was the most our baggage allowance would allow. A tripod would sadly have taken too much space. The photograph of the imposing sky over the veld was beautiful. It is great to be able to maintain even this distant contact and my wife and I look forward to our next opportunity to visit beautiful Londolozi, whenever that may be.

Associates & Awards

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Purchase a photograph

Our best photographs are available for purchase in digital format from the Londolozi Live Fine Art Store, via credit card. Purchasable photos are tagged with the Fine Art Store icon:

Once purchased, you will be able to download the full resolution, unwatermarked image (around 10Mb) from your profile page at any time. There are also different license options which you can choose from when adding the image to your cart.

To add any purchasable image to your cart, press the Purchase/Add to cart buttons next to an image, from anywhere across Londolozi Live:

Badges

Badges are awarded for achieving various things and come with a bunch of points in tow. Here's an example badge:

We've had the pleasure of hosting you here at Londolozi and together we've experienced the magic of the wild and now you're part of the family. You've let us know about your past visits while editing your Profile.

Londolozi Guest

Awarded for visiting Londolozi.

1000

prowess earned

for earning the Londolozi Guest badge

Each badge has a basic version, such as the Londolozi Guest badge above, and then a specialist version:

Londolozi Lifer

Awarded for visiting Londolozi three times.

2000

prowess earned

for earning the Londolozi Lifer badge

To see all the badges on offer and find out how to grab them, visit the Badge Showcase or click on any badge you happen to find out there in the wild.

Senior Digital Ranger

Digital Tracker

Master Tracker

Guest

We've had the pleasure of hosting you here at Londolozi and together we've experienced the magic of the wild and now you're part of the family. You've let us know about your past visits while editing your Profile.

You've earned the badge:

Londolozi Guest

Awarded for visiting Londolozi.

1000

prowess earned

for earning the Londolozi Guest badge

You're a specialist in this field and have earned the badge:

Londolozi Lifer

Leopard

On a trip to Londolozi you've been lucky enough to spot a leopard of Londolozi. You've encountered the leopard's profile card on the Blog and pressed the 'Spotted this Leopard?' button to record your sighting.

Lion Fanatic

Photographer

You've got an eye for the wilderness and have had your photographic journal from your time at Londolozi published on the Blog for others to enjoy. You found out how to submit your story by emailing us.

You've earned the badge:

Photographer

Awarded for submitting a photo story.

700

prowess earned

for earning the Photographer badge

You're a specialist in this field and have earned the badge:

Master Photographer

Storyteller

You've got the gift of the storyteller and have had a tale of your time at Londolozi published on the Blog for others to marvel at around the camp fire. You found out how to submit your story by emailing us.

Art Specialist

Good Work Foundation

You recongise the rare privilege it is to be able to experience the untamed beauty of the natural world, and have found an opportunity to give back through The Good Work Foundation, for the sake of others, your children and the wild. You've let us know about your donations while editing your Profile.

You've earned the badge:

GWF Patron

Awarded for donating to The Good Work Foundation.

500

prowess earned

for earning the GWF Patron badge

You're a specialist in this field and have earned the badge:

GWF Protector

Curator

You've curated your own Favorites gallery by ♡ing at least 15 photographs which you absolutely love from around Londolozi Live. If your Favorites gallery has caught the eye of the Fine Art site Editor and is featured, you've also earned the esteemed Featured Curator badge.

Londolozi Live

Membership Overview

Londolozi Live

Membership overview

We invite you to sign up for a Londolozi Live account and join our growing digital family united by our respect for nature and love of the wild. Membership is free and grants access to the Londolozi community, numerous innovative services and benefits across our digital ecosystem:

Quick sign in/sign up

Tired of new passwords? Link your social media account of choice for instant, secure access to Londolozi Live.

Who are you?

Tell the community something about yourself and tweak your Londolozi profile. More of a secretive animal? Keep your profile private.

Track your activity

Earn badges for your profile as you interact with Londolozi and the community as you comment, share and explore our online ecosystem. All your activity with Londolozi is now connected.

Increase your ranking

Earn prowess and rank up as you interact with Londolozi Live and earn a spot on the monthly points leaderboard.

Discuss stories

Chat with other Londolozi Live Explorers and with your favourite Contributors from the Londolozi team about their photos and stories from the wild.

Curate your own galleryNEW

Add your favorite photographs from around Londolozi Live to your very own Favorites gallery, using the ♡ button, for others to enjoy.

Purchase full res photosNEW

Buy your favorite photos in full resolution, easily and securely, for download at any time from your Profile Page.

Home of leopards

Tell us which of the Leopards of Londolozi you've encountered during your visit! Their cards will move to your profile page collection.

Rent gear

Need a camera for your stay? Book it online and hassle free. Travel to Londolozi light and easy.

sightings by Members

The Leopards of Londolozi

Since 1979 Londolozi has had a love affair with leopards. Over the last four decades, this dynasty has been chronicled by the many guides and trackers, past and present, who have worked at Londolozi.

You can visit the Mashaba 4:3 Female's dedicated profile page to access a rich trove of information about this leopard, including family tree, unique markings, territory maps, timelines and a host of stunning images and videos.